2024 Week 3 Newsletter 7/28-8/2

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We hope you are having a great July and enjoying the beginning of August. We can’t believe that the summer break have passed halfway point. The students in our Little Dragon Summer Camp access Chinese, English, Math in meaningful ways. Students work on a variety of fun activities, including basketball games, dancing, Kung Fu, and more! Let’s take a look! Grow Your Own FoodThis week at Little Dragon summer camp, our theme was “Grow Your Own Food.” Students explored the parts of plants, learned about the edible parts of various plants, and discovered different methods of growing food, including non-traditional ways like hydroponics and aquaponics. STEM & Chinese Day 1: Parts of Plants and Edible Plant PartsWe kicked off the week by learning about the different parts of plants and which parts we eat. Students enjoyed tasting roasted sunflower seeds and cucumbers. They were excited to find out that cucumber seeds are inside the cucumbers! Day 2: Growing Green Bean SproutsThe children learned how to grow green bean sprouts at home with three essential tips for success. After our lesson, we savored Chinese-style edamame and discovered another delicious way to enjoy seeds. Yummy! Day 3: The Growing CycleWe discussed the time it takes for plants to grow and identified plants that can be grown hydroponically. Each student selected vegetables to grow in water, including green onions, garlic, and carrots. The day ended with sampling fresh summer tomatoes and green onions, and some brave students even tried raw garlic. What an adventurous day of tasting different foods! Day 4: From Wheat to FlourWe explored how wheat is transformed into flour and how flour is used to make bread. Students planted wheat grass in a straw and then enjoyed freshly baked bread. This tasting experience was different from eating bread at home; we took the time to appreciate the effort behind bread-making. Students touched, smelled, and savored the bread with butter spread, learning to appreciate the true flavors of food and the hard work involved in its preparation. Day 5: Celebration – Making Veggie SoupsTo wrap up the week, we made delicious vegetable soup using the veggies we grew. The campers learned how to safely cut the vegetables into small pieces, and some even created vegetable artwork! We combined all the pieces in an instant pressure cooker to create a tasty veggie soup for everyone to enjoy.We had an amazing week learning about food growth and trying new things. What an adventure group! English Language Arts Group A Like usual, everyday beginning the class, I would have them all pick out a book and we’d vote to read 3 out of the 5 choices. Then, we’d move on to a creative activity. The girls enjoyed coloring. With the two boys, I played word games, where I’d say a word and the last letter of that word would be the first letter of the next word they would try to come up with. They seemed to enjoy that instead. Group B We were reading a variety of short stories with questions that involved interpreting the author’s intent, interpreting what is true versus make-believe within the story, as well as inferring based on information provided within the passage. Group C Students worked on reading comprehension through various activities in worksheets, like answering multiple choice questions and writing sentences. They also practiced identifying supporting details. During quiet reading time, students found books they liked to read. Group D Each day, we read a short book about an interesting topic. We also worked on reading comprehension by completing packets related to the short book. These included puzzles with new words to learn, drawing about what they read, and questions that tested their understanding. Group E We worked on these packets involving content on severe weather. We continue to work on the writing skills. They worked on writing on how the severe weathers are formed and how they could be dangerous. We also went through a graphic organizer that helped them to write a summary with a main idea and 3-4 for supporting details from the story. Group F This group is a lot more advanced, Yunny decided to come up with fun English activities to do everyday instead of reading articles. She thought of activities that she did with her class back when she was their age, like writing a letter to someone who inspires them, and wax figure presentations. Their teamwork abilities are awesome. Basketball Our focus was on building fundamental motor skills and providing opportunities to practice those skills. Some players with more experience began competing more frequently in order to apply and refine the skills they have developed. Dance In the first two classes, our kids learned the beginning of a Chinese red ribbon dance which is a traditional Chinese art form that originates in ancient China. Dancers learn touse ribbon to do rhythmic dance movements with traditional Chinese music. The ribbons and choreography are precisely synchronized so that the ribbons form patterns and designs in the air that are captivating to all who watch it. The kids learned how to do rainbow, waterfall, snake, dragon and many fun ribbon dance moves, we will continue learning the ribbon dance next week outside at the big stage at Town Green. Then, we learned a KongFu panda dance based on KFP movie this week since we are not able to use the ribbon with the wet weather. The kids all loved learning the dance moves for Panda, Tiger, Crane, Viper and Monkey and had a lot of fun. Ms. Huss found a lot of talented dancers and can’t wait to work with them again next week. This is a fantastic opportunity for kids to explore Chinese culture through the art of Chinese dance. Snack and Lunch Activity Centers Craft Math Maze Pond and Us Fun with Water Volunteers Give with Our Hearts Gain an amazing Community